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HOUSE BILL NO. 6023
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending section 1279g (MCL 380.1279g), as amended by 2025 PA
57.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1279g. (1) The board of a school district or board of 1
directors of a public school academy shall comply with this section 2
and shall administer the Michigan merit examination to pupils in 3
grade 11, and to pupils in grade 12 who did not take the complete 4
Michigan merit examination in grade 11, as provided in this 5
June 02, 2026, Introduced by Reps. Paquette, Kelly, Wortz, Greene, Pavlov and Posthumus and
referred to Committee on Education and Workforce.
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section. 1
(2) For the purposes of this section, the department of 2
technology, management, and budget shall contract with 1 or more 3
providers to develop, supply, and score the Michigan merit 4
examination. The Michigan merit examination shall must consist of 5
all of the following: 6
(a) Assessment instruments that measure English language arts, 7
mathematics, reading, and science and are used by colleges and 8
universities in this state for entrance or placement purposes. This 9
shall must include a writing component in which the pupil produces 10
an extended writing sample. The Michigan merit examination shall 11
must not require any other extended writing sample. A pupil may 12
elect to take the Classic Learning Test (CLT) to fulfill the 13
requirements of this subdivision. 14
(b) One or more tests from 1 or more test developers that 15
assess a pupil's ability to apply at least reading and mathematics 16
skills in a manner that is intended to allow employers to use the 17
results in making employment decisions. The department of 18
technology, management, and budget and the superintendent of public 19
instruction shall ensure that any test or tests selected under this 20
subdivision have all the components necessary to allow a pupil to 21
be eligible to receive the results of a nationally recognized 22
evaluation of workforce readiness if the pupil's test performance 23
is adequate. Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, a pupil may 24
elect not to take a test described in this subdivision through a 25
waiver that is developed by the department, made available on the 26
department's website, and both signed and submitted to the pupil's 27
school district, intermediate school district, or public school 28
academy by the pupil's parent or legal guardian by not later than 29
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February 28 of the school year in which the test will be 1
administered. The department shall consult with an individual who 2
represents business in this state, an individual who represents 3
manufacturing in this state, and an individual who represents 4
skilled trades organizations in this state to develop an 5
informational letter about the purpose and benefits of the 6
workforce readiness assessment. A school district, intermediate 7
school district, or public school academy shall ensure that the 8
informational letter is provided to all pupils described in 9
subsection (1) and the parents or legal guardians of those pupils 10
by not later than December 31 of the school year in which the test 11
will be administered. 12
(c) A social studies component. 13
(d) Any other component that is necessary to obtain the 14
approval of the United States Department of Education to use the 15
Michigan merit examination for the purposes of the no child left 16
behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student 17
succeeds act, Public Law 114-95. 18
(3) In addition to all other requirements of this section, all 19
of the following apply to the Michigan merit examination: 20
(a) The department of technology, management, and budget and 21
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any 22
contractor used for scoring the Michigan merit examination supplies 23
an individual report for each pupil that will identify for the 24
pupil's parents or legal guardians and teachers whether the pupil 25
met expectations or failed to meet expectations for each standard, 26
to allow the pupil's parents or legal guardians and teachers to 27
assess and remedy problems before the pupil moves to the next 28
grade. 29
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(b) The department of technology, management, and budget and 1
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any 2
contractor used for scoring, developing, or processing the Michigan 3
merit examination meets quality management standards commonly used 4
in the assessment industry, including at least meeting level 2 of 5
the capability maturity model developed by the Software Engineering 6
Institute of Carnegie Mellon University for the first year the 7
Michigan merit examination is offered to all grade 11 pupils and at 8
least meeting level 3 of the capability maturity model for 9
subsequent years. 10
(c) The department of technology, management, and budget and 11
the superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that any 12
contract for scoring, administering, or developing the Michigan 13
merit examination includes specific deadlines for all steps of the 14
assessment process, including, but not limited to, deadlines for 15
the correct testing materials to be supplied to schools and for the 16
correct results to be returned to schools, and includes penalties 17
for noncompliance with these deadlines. 18
(d) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that 19
the Michigan merit examination meets all of the following: 20
(i) Is designed to test pupils on grade level content 21
expectations or course content expectations, as appropriate, in all 22
subjects tested. 23
(ii) Complies with requirements of the no child left behind act 24
of 2001, Public Law 107-110, or the every student succeeds act, 25
Public Law 114-95, as applicable. 26
(iii) Is consistent with the code of fair testing practices in 27
education prepared by the joint committee on testing practices of 28
the American Psychological Association. 29
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(iv) Is factually accurate. If the superintendent of public 1
instruction determines that a question is not factually accurate 2
and should be excluded from scoring, the state board and the 3
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the question 4
is excluded from scoring. 5
(4) A school district or public school academy that operates a 6
high school shall include on each pupil's high school transcript 7
all of the following: 8
(a) For each high school graduate who has completed the 9
Michigan merit examination under this section, the pupil's scaled 10
score on each subject area component of the Michigan merit 11
examination. 12
(b) The number of school days the pupil was in attendance at 13
school each school year during high school and the total number of 14
school days in session for each of those school years. 15
(5) The superintendent of public instruction shall work with 16
the provider or providers of the Michigan merit examination to 17
produce Michigan merit examination subject area scores for each 18
pupil participating in the Michigan merit examination, including 19
scaling and merging of test items for the different subject area 20
components. The superintendent of public instruction shall design 21
and distribute to school districts, public school academies, 22
intermediate school districts, and nonpublic schools a simple and 23
concise document that describes the scoring for each subject area 24
and indicates the scaled score ranges for each subject area. 25
(6) The Michigan merit examination shall must be administered 26
each year after March 1 and before June 1 to pupils in grade 11. 27
The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the 28
Michigan merit examination is scored and the scores are returned to 29
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pupils, the pupils' parents or legal guardians, and schools not 1
later than the beginning of the pupil's first semester of grade 12. 2
The returned scores shall must indicate at least the pupil's scaled 3
score for each subject area component and the range of scaled 4
scores for each subject area. In reporting the scores to pupils, 5
parents, legal guardians, and schools, the superintendent of public 6
instruction shall provide standards-specific, meaningful, and 7
timely feedback on the pupil's performance on the Michigan merit 8
examination. 9
(7) A school district or public school academy shall 10
administer the complete Michigan merit examination to a pupil only 11
once and shall not administer the complete Michigan merit 12
examination to the same pupil more than once. If a pupil does not 13
take the complete Michigan merit examination in grade 11, the 14
school district or public school academy shall administer the 15
complete Michigan merit examination to the pupil in grade 12. If a 16
pupil chooses to retake the college entrance examination component 17
of the Michigan merit examination, as described in subsection 18
(2)(a), the pupil may do so through the provider of the college 19
entrance examination component and the cost of the retake is the 20
responsibility of the pupil unless all of the following are met: 21
(a) The pupil has taken the complete Michigan merit 22
examination. 23
(b) The pupil meets the income eligibility criteria for free 24
breakfast, lunch, or milk, as determined under the Richard B. 25
Russell national school lunch act, 42 USC 1751 to 1769j. 26
(c) The pupil has applied to the provider of the college 27
entrance examination component for a scholarship or fee waiver to 28
cover the cost of the retake and that application has been denied. 29
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(d) After taking the complete Michigan merit examination, the 1
pupil has not already received a free retake of the college 2
entrance examination component paid for either by this state or 3
through a scholarship or fee waiver by the provider. 4
(8) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that 5
the length of the Michigan merit examination and the combined total 6
time necessary to administer all of the components of the Michigan 7
merit examination are the shortest possible that will still 8
maintain the degree of reliability and validity of the Michigan 9
merit examination results determined necessary by the 10
superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent of public 11
instruction shall ensure that the maximum total combined length of 12
time that schools are required to set aside for pupils to answer 13
all test questions on the Michigan merit examination does not 14
exceed 8 hours if the superintendent of public instruction 15
determines that sufficient alignment to applicable Michigan merit 16
curriculum content standards can be achieved within that time 17
limit. 18
(9) A school district or public school academy shall provide 19
accommodations to a pupil with disabilities for the Michigan merit 20
examination, as provided under section 504 of title V of the 21
rehabilitation act of 1973, 29 USC 794; part A of subchapter II of 22
the Americans with disabilities act of 1990, 42 USC 12131 to 12134; 23
the individuals with disabilities education act amendments of 1997, 24
Public Law 105-17; and the implementing regulations for those 25
statutes. The provider or providers of the Michigan merit 26
examination and the superintendent of public instruction shall 27
mutually agree on the accommodations to be provided under this 28
subsection. 29
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(10) To the greatest extent possible, the Michigan merit 1
examination shall must be based on grade level content expectations 2
or course content expectations, as appropriate. Not later than July 3
1, 2008, the The department shall identify specific grade level 4
content expectations to be taught before and after the middle of 5
grade 11, so that teachers will know what content will be covered 6
within the Michigan merit examination. 7
(11) A child who is a student in a nonpublic school or home 8
school may take the Michigan merit examination under this section. 9
To take the Michigan merit examination, a child who is a student in 10
a home school shall contact the school district in which the child 11
resides, and that school district shall administer the Michigan 12
merit examination, or the child may take the Michigan merit 13
examination at a nonpublic school if allowed by the nonpublic 14
school. Upon request from a nonpublic school, the superintendent of 15
public instruction shall direct the provider or providers to supply 16
the Michigan merit examination to the nonpublic school and the 17
nonpublic school may administer the Michigan merit examination. If 18
a school district administers the Michigan merit examination under 19
this subsection to a child who is not enrolled in the school 20
district, the scores for that child are not considered for any 21
purpose to be scores of a pupil of the school district. 22
(12) In contracting under subsection (2), the department of 23
technology, management, and budget shall consider a contractor that 24
provides electronically-scored essays with the ability to score 25
constructed response feedback in multiple languages and provide 26
ongoing instruction and feedback. 27
(13) The purpose of the Michigan merit examination is to 28
assess pupil performance in mathematics, science, social studies, 29
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Final Page
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and English language arts for the purpose of improving academic 1
achievement and establishing a statewide standard of competency. 2
The assessment under this section provides a common measure of data 3
that will contribute to the improvement of Michigan schools' 4
curriculum and instruction by encouraging alignment with Michigan's 5
curriculum framework standards and promotes pupil participation in 6
higher level mathematics, science, social studies, and English 7
language arts courses. These standards are based on the 8
expectations of what pupils should learn through high school and 9
are aligned with national standards. 10
(14) In addition to the other requirements of this section and 11
the requirements of 1970 PA 38, MCL 388.1081 to 388.1086, the 12
superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the Michigan 13
merit examination social studies component and the M-STEP and any 14
successor state assessment for social studies, as appropriate, 15
include questions related to the learning objectives in the state 16
board recommended model core academic curriculum standards 17
concerning genocide, including, but not limited to, the Holocaust 18
and the Armenian Genocide. 19
(15) As used in this section: 20
(a) "Armenian Genocide", "genocide", and "Holocaust" mean 21
those terms as defined in section 1168. 22
(b) "English language arts" means reading and writing. 23
(c) "Social studies" means United States history, world 24
history, world geography, economics, and American government. 25
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect 26
unless House Bill No. 6024 (request no. H07037'26) of the 103rd 27
Legislature is enacted into law. 28